President Trump Shuts Down Pence-Kobach Election Integrity Commission

The first question among many is what the commission intends to do with the data that it has already collected from the states.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement laying responsibility for the commission's demise on the many states that refused to provide voter data "despite substantial evidence of voter fraud", and also on the cost of ongoing lawsuits challenging the commission.

The White House announced the dissolution of the panel late Wednesday, citing resistance from states about complying with the commission.

Kansas state Rep. Keith Esau, an Olathe Republican who is running to succeed Kobach as secretary of state, defended the commission's request for information and blamed the media for the furor over the commission's work. Trump months earlier had alleged, without evidence, that 3 million to 5 million people voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election, delivering the popular vote to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Democrats and liberal activists claimed victory, saying they stopped a threat to democracy by derailing the panel, known officially as the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.

The commission, chaired by Vice President Mike Pence, had requested details such as voters' names and party affiliations, birth dates, felony conviction records, voting histories for the past decade and the last four digits of all voters' Social Security numbers.

"Common Cause is proud to be one of several organizations that took legal action against the commission, which ultimately led to President Trump dissolving it". In light of that, we hope the public will push for voter security in every state, and that Homeland Security can close the loop from its end in keeping noncitizens from fouling a right that should be sacred to every American.

Cancer Deaths Continue to DeclineThe NCI is undertaking its largest-ever study on the topic to delve into how genetic and biological factors contribute to risk. Some states in the report, such as NY and MA , have seen the racial mortality gap disappear for whites and blacks over 65.

"DHS can do it more freely and efficiently than a commission can", he said.

Kobach, who advised Trump throughout the 2016 campaign and served on his transition team, had advised Trump on making changes to the National Voter Registration Act that would enable states to make additional requirements on voters, according to documents that were unsealed as part of a federal lawsuit against Kobach's office past year. Its last known meeting was September 12.

Dunlap's case was one of eight pending lawsuits against the commission.

A spokeswoman for Kobach did not immediately return a request for comment.

DHS has the capability, if states cooperate, of gathering and using data on individual voters without the kind of transparency that was required of the commission. Von Spakovsky said he wasn't consulted in advance about the president's decision to dissolve the commission and found out about it from the same email that Dunlap and other commission members received.

The list of activists and organizations that challenged the commission is lengthy, including numerous nation's most prominent civil rights groups and good-government nonprofits.

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